Fungal contaminant, probable airborne, seen on BHI media containing 5% NaCl after 2 months at refrigerated temperatures. White hyphal "apron" with no spore formation can be seen at the edges with brown spore formation seen in the center.
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Four years to the day after filming 'Threading the NEIDL', Vincent and Alan return to the National Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratories BSL4 facility at Boston University where they speak with science writer David Quammen during the Emerging Infectious Disea...
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The BBSRC and NERC-funded ShellEye project seeks to help shellfish farmers manage threats from harmful algal blooms and E. coli bacteria. The multi-partner ShellEye project brings together industry, government and scientists and aims to develop a satellite-based forecasting system to help fisher...
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I've just recently finished TWiM number 133 and wanted to comment about the use of the term "secondary metabolite" throughout the episode and often in the primary literature. Michael pointed out that a se...
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In the second of two shows recorded at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, Vincent meets up with faculty members to talk about how they got into science, their research on RNA viruses, and what they would be doing if they were not scientists.

Evidence suggests that microbes existed on Earth as far back as 3.7 billion years ago, a billion years after the planet formed. Animal remains, however, don't appear in the fossil record until 600 million years ago during the Ediacaran period, though there are indirect signs that animal life may...
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A University of British Columbia mathematician may have discovered a key to understanding the constantly changing distribution of microbial species in the world's oceans—classify microorganisms by their biochemical function, rather than by their taxonomy.

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a chilling reality that my patients and I face every day. As an infectious diseases physician, I see increasing numbers of patients with serious or life-threatening infections, and I am running out of antibiotics to treat them. The emergence of MCR-1 and MCR-2—n...
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Tardigrades, or water bears, are pudgy, microscopic animals that look like a cross between a caterpillar and a naked mole rat. These aquatic invertebrates are consummate survivors, capable of withstanding a host of extremes, including near total dehydration and the insults of space.

In my previous posting (Part 1), I reflected on the historical change of the new ASM governance. Here I would like to highlight some key issues that I see facing ASM and its new governance structure. This is not a prescriptive list, but rather a list of goals or, if you prefer, a straw man for ...
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Communication of experimental results via publishing is one of the most important steps of the scientific method; if you don’t share your results, how will knowledge within a field grow? A well-written article contextualizes the author’s data into a broader scientific landscape, which allows rea...
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